How to help students take the classes they love whilst avoiding class conflicts

If you are a school principal, we understand that there is a lot going on in the schools. Having a lot of students is definitely positive. You may want to offer as many different classes as possible. The more choices the better right? 

Enter the master schedule. Typically done manually on a huge board where you would have to hand pick each student and place them in classes. Now even more puzzle pieces are added than last year, which means probably more class conflicts will occur. Yikes! 

Conflicts are synonymous with scheduling

We know that it is tough to schedule all the options you wish to offer for all your students easily. It is a complicated process and most likely, all these course requests flooding in will cause conflicts. The more classes are being offered and the higher the student intake, the higher the percentage of conflicts that will happen. It is just a natural event to happen. 

It starts to create chaos and inconvenience for everyone involved. Starting from the master scheduler, then your teachers and of course the students and their parents. Certain scenarios may occur for each stakeholder involved. 

How class conflicts affect the different parties.

You may have one class clash that happens for one student. However, this one problem can have different impacts on the different parties. It is hard to address the issue on a one-to-one basis. Even though you have only one clash, there might be hundreds of people with the same issue. Each party has difficulties. 

Teachers may have to squeeze in more periods in a week in order to accommodate the expansion of classes. They may even have to teach a class with over 40 students. The worst-case scenario for teachers would be them having to run to different rooms back to back to keep up. These sorts of scenarios unfortunately leave your teachers feeling burnt out and overwhelmed. 

For parents, they can become disappointed with the school’s inability to give their kids preferences. Parents are very much involved in what kind of classes their kids take. If their kids are unhappy, the parents will be too. These students won’t be able to do what they want. Learn the subjects they were excited about. This can lead to them being discouraged about school. Even disinterested, causing an attendance rate to decline. 

School counselors have a difficult time in having to counsel kids due to the lack of options and choices they are being offered. They want to encourage them to perhaps go into a field of study that the student is passionate about. Yet, is unable to do so because of course clashes. It does put the counselors in a tough situation and they may not be able to do their job to their fullest. 

What solutions are there to deal with class conflicts

The best way to deal with class conflicts, usually, is to go back to the master schedule board and start making changes. Re-arranging students, classes, and/or teacher schedules. Perhaps adding in more students to a class or hiring more teachers is needed in order to keep up with the demand for a subject. You may even need to change the time of classes as well. Whichever method you decide is best, there will still be a lot of rearranging to be done. It may even sadly feel like starting back at square one. 

However, if the school is unable to provide software or better software, more resources in helping with the changes, or the time has just run out, then the students have to make the hard choice. Deciding which courses they will just have to give up. We are sure this is a scenario everyone in the faculty wants to avoid. 

Will using a master scheduler software help with class conflicts?

With the rise of technology and seeing how schools have been using it more especially when covid-19 hit, there must be a master scheduler software that can be used. And there is! 

Enter Orchestra by QuickSchools! The only master scheduler software your school will need. Our main goal when creating Orchestra was how do we solve conflicts fast! We wanted to build software whereby after simply loading the course requests into the schedule, schools can react, shuffle resources, and communicate with everyone concerned in order for solutions to be explored. All this is easily done and in real-time with the help of Orchestra being 100% cloud-based software. 

How Orchestra can help exactly

We have the best features built into Orchestra so you don’t need to struggle as it will suit your every need. Besides being able to easily share information with each other through the cloud-based software, we also have a scheduling algorithm that can support a number of different options you have that is particular to your school. Whether you have an A/B block, traditional block, 4×4 block, or really any type of scheduling methodology your school is using, Orchestra can help with any type of schedule your school has. 

We also offer you the choice of drag and drop options if you would like to manually make changes yourself. With our clean master schedule board, you can see all the details you need without all the clutter overwhelming you. 

Orchestra leverages your previous master schedule data to configure your new one quickly. Using these import screens, you can set up your new k12 master schedule with the right inputs from previous schedules and be on your way very quickly. You can import teachers and courses, as well as course request templates, and make any changes relevant to the new Master Schedule.

Once your master schedule is complete using 5 simple steps, you can easily share the schedule with both parents and students online through their portals or via a PDF printout. Plus if you ever need any help along the way, our support team is at your full disposal, 24/7. You even talk to a real person too!

Also, did we mention that Orchestra is a stand-alone master schedule software? It will be able to complement the current student information system our school has. As much as we would love your school to be using the QuickSchools SIS, we understand that for some, this is not an option. But not to worry as you can still use Orchestra! 

The positive effects of using Orchestra for You

Since Orchestra is able to save you a lot of time and get you to as close to 100% complete with no class conflicts as possible, in the end, this can make everyone happy. Teachers are able to work with a schedule that suits them best and avoid using up their time with admin work or, even worse, burnout. Parents are delighted that their kids are able to take the classes they wanted. Most importantly, your students will be able to take the classes they love without having to sacrifice one class over another. 

With satisfied students and parents, this creates a huge advantage for your school. Both groups will have more positive opinions about the faculty. Especially when it shows that the school really cares about catering to students’ needs. Word of mouth, a fantastic form of marketing, will be positive without much extra effort being done on your part. This outlook invites more parents and students to consider your school over another. 

When a school has a master schedule that benefits all stakeholders, it increases the productivity of everyone. Students are more attentive in classes since they are studying what they want, and teachers can focus on their students better.

It is a win for everyone, including you!

You can sign up for a free demo to see exactly how Orchestra can work for your faculty. Give it a try. We promise it will be worth your time.